Romance is tactless
by inkandquill90
Summary: Hermione and Neville find some sparks. It could go any number of ways. Give it a go.
1. Chapter 1

**Haven't written in a while and I don't know how far I want to go with this story. Let me know what y'all think. Nothing smutty yet, but there could be. Don't think too hard about when this takes place. Maybe the war happened maybe it didn't. Only Hermione and Neville are in this story, maybe mentions of others, so just focus on the romance.  
Cheers ~ink**

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Hermione glanced down at her watch. They had been at this for three hours now. The air was thick with steam and the malodor of a dozen potions gone wrong. Neville was a dreadful potion maker and tutoring only seemed to make it worse. This was the second Saturday that Hermione had devoted to helping him prepare for his N.E.W.T.s. How he had managed to make it through O.W.L year was beyond Hermione. He seemed to be barely capable of making a first year potion. Hermione sighed. It was a glorious day out and the small classroom they were using was stuffy and unpleasantly warm. Hermione wanted nothing more than to leave the castle and jump into the lake. It didn't even matter if the Giant Squid touched her. Her hair was out of control from the obscene humidity and her fuse was growing ever shorter as Neville continued to blunder through the simplest steps. She hated to let loose her frustrations on him but it was getting harder.

"Neville, what do you say we call it day. I really can't handle the heat in this room anymore and we don't seem to be making any progress at all."

Neville blushed, "I'm so sorry, Hermione, I'm just not focusing well today. Could we give this potion one last shot? I know I can get it right. Just let me get out of these school robes. I can't breathe in them well."

Neville looked so hopeful that Hermione couldn't help but sigh again and rub her temples as she nodded in consent. Hermione had taken off her school robes nearly two hours ago at this point. She was now in a pair of jeans and the button down shirt she wore with her uniform. The sleeves were rolled up and the only window in the room had already been thrown open. There was no breeze and the heat just sat there on their skins and in the air as if it would never leave. Hermione began looking at the window wondering how much it would hurt if she flung herself from the third floor. She supposed she would die if she landed properly. If not she would probably just be in a lot of pain. After judging the merits of that particular endeavor as not quite worth it yet and filing it away as a plan B she looked towards Neville. He had discarded his robes and his tie and Hermione's eyes widened. Gone was the chubby boy from first year and in his place was a man. A man with muscles. Herbology did a boy some good. She no longer wanted to fling herself from the window. His robes had been covering up broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a flat stomach. Hermione swallowed as he began rolling up his shirt sleeves past his elbows. How had she not noticed his hands were that large? They were sexy. Hermione widened her eyes even more. Had she just thought some part of Neville was sexy? This was _Neville._ He was not _sexy._ Except there he went unbuttoning the top two buttons on his shirt and Hermione was staring. He picked up his wand and vanished the remnants of the last potion and some of the steam dissipated with it.

"Hermione are you ok? Is there something on my shirt?"

Neville was looking confused and concerned at Hermione. She shook her head and tried to look nonchalant.

"No, no. You're fine, totally fine. Must be the heat. I just zoned out a little. Let's do this potion."

Hermione sounded too chipper, too cool and collected and she couldn't help thinking he was so fine. So so so very fine. Hermione took a deep breath. She was above all this. She could handle being in the same room with a boy she had known since she was 11 and had heretofore never had a romantic feeling for. She slowly moved closer to him and watched him cut up the ingredients for the next potion. Focusing on academics helped her gain some clarity of mind.

They worked silently for ten minutes before Neville made his first mistake again. He was about to add powdered lizard eyes when the potion clearly stated they were not to be added until it was stirred seventeen times. Hermione quickly reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. She felt the strong current of attraction tingle up her arm making her hair stand on end. Neville looked down at her hand on his arm and then to Hermione's face. The intensity of his gaze made Hermione avert her eyes. She was entirely unsure of how she was handling these brand new feelings for Neville and it was scaring her.

She cleared her throat, "Yeah, erm, don't, erm add those just yet," and slowly removed her hand from his arm. She clenched her fist as she mentally berated herself for acting like an idiot. She was always eloquent and loquacious. Never in her life could she remember stammering. Anger started bubbling up inside her and she quickly moved across the room from Neville as he was checking the potion recipe again. When he looked up again he furrowed his brow but otherwise said nothing.

The remainder of the session went uneventfully if you count Hermione muttering direction from across the room and Neville making a fairly accurate potion then Hermione flying out of the room as uneventful.

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**Well, that's the end of that bit. If the inspirations strikes I'll write some more. Let me know how you feel about a Hermione Neville situation.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I still have no idea how long this is going to be but here is chapter 2.**

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Hermione found herself pacing in the ladies room just down the hall from the tutoring classroom. Her mind was reeling. How on earth had she let herself get this worked up? She was trying to be rational, logical, but every time she got near having a cohesive her brain instantly pushed the feeling of Neville's skin under her fingers and his broad shoulders and large hands to the forefront. She was thinking some very naughty thoughts. She would only let her brain follow them a short while before she cut it off. Finally after a longer than decent amount of time in the bathroom she pushed her way out muttering under her breath.

Neville stayed in the now abandoned classroom for a long while. The boy was confused. He rubbed his face with his hands and then surveyed the mess he made. To be frank he was a competent potion maker when Snape wasn't breathing down his neck. He had fabricated the need for tutoring sessions as an excuse to spend time with Hermione. He had always had feelings for Hermione for as long as he could remember. Probably since the first time he met her when he was in tears over losing Trevor and she was eager to help. He assumed they would be friends because they were both awkward and seemingly outcast but Hermione fell in with Ron and Harry, and Neville, well he liked plants more than most people. He cultivated his crush from a respectable distance. He recognized early on she was way out his league, that he would never have her so long as Ron and Harry occupied her attention. So he put his feelings aside as only young boys with crushes can and moved on. It wasn't until recently that the reality of their current situation sunk in for Neville. They were in their final year of school, with only a few months until they left Hogwarts forever. Neville panicked. He might never see her again. He rationalized it was now or never, go big or go home, and any number of other clichés in order to work up the necessary courage to find time with Hermione. It had started as a simple experiment: find out if his feelings still existed. He proved that hypothesis correct in the first ten minutes of being in the same room alone with her. Her very presence intoxicated him.

Neville packed up his bag slowly, meticulously, considering the events of the day's session. Everything had been going along swimmingly and then Hermione couldn't seem to be able to occupy the same space as him. Then she touched him and he saw the shock cross her face. He was seriously overwhelmed with confusion. He shut the classroom door slowly behind him and began the trudge back to the common room. He could still feel the heat from Hermione's hand on his arm.

Just as he rounded the corner slowly the door to his right banged open and suddenly he was engulfed by a mess of brown hair. She had exited the bathroom so quickly and was so preoccupied that she hadn't been watching where she was going. Neville reached out instinctively with one hand in an attempt to balance the person who had barreled into him and threw out his other to break his fall onto the cement. There was a sickening crunch as Neville's wrist snapped but he hardly noticed it because lying on top of his chest with his good arm wrapped around her waist was none other than Hermione Granger, the woman most occupying his thoughts. They froze there for a moment lying flush against one another until the sound of footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor caused Hermione to attempt to right herself. She placed the palm of her hand on Neville's chest as she pushed herself up off him and relished in the excuse to touch him. It was chaste and erotic at the same time and Hermione was losing her mind.

"What is going on here, might I dare to ask?"

McGonagall's voice rang down the corridor as her footstep quickly approached the pair. Hermione was flushed and Neville's face was beet red, but probably more from the pain in his wrist than embarrassment.

"Its all my fault professor, I was coming out the bathroom and didn't see Neville and I think I've hurt him," Hermione gushed as she rolled off Neville and into a sitting position on the floor. McGonagall looked at the pair, her eyes narrowing and she took in Neville's quickly swelling wrist.

"I suggest you make sure he gets to Madam Pomfrey and let her fix that right up. Do be more careful Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded as McGonagall swept down the corridor and out of sight. Hermione straightened her shirt as she stood up. She offered Neville her hand which he gratefully took. Suddenly an idea struck him. He had to know why Hermione reacted the way she had to him earlier. He wouldn't let himself believe it was out of attraction, not until he had a mountain of evidence. So as he grabbed Hermione's hand, he pulled a little harder than was necessary so that he ended up much closer to her than she had anticipated. He held his breath as he heard Hermione suck in hers sharply. He was much taller so he couldn't see her face very well. He held his breath. Hermione stayed close to him for just a fraction of a second too long. She pushed away from him and chuckled nervously. Her face was as red as her Gryffindor tie.

"Ahem, let's, let's get you to the hospital wing."

Neville only nodded but inside he was elated. His face was as red as Hermione's and he followed her brisk pace down the corridor and up the nearest set of stairs. They quickly made it to the hospital wing. Hermione desperately wanted to get out of there. She was determined to leave him by the door.

"Well we made it. Sorry I broke your wrist, really Neville. I need to go though, so sorry."

Neville reached out and easily grabbed Hermione's hand, "Uhm wait." He had no idea why he did that. He had nothing smooth to say. He just acted on impulse. Neville never acted on impulse. As a general rule he thought things out for at least 24 hours before even weighing pros and cons and now he was asking Hermione to wait.

Hermione looked up at him with panic in her eyes. She just wanted to leave. Neville swallowed audibly. He smiled nervously.

"I forgive you, Hermione," he said quickly and bent down and pecked her on the cheek quickly. His face reticent of boiled lobster he raced through the doors of the hospital wing leaving Hermione flabbergasted.

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**There it goes. Hopefully I can pick up the pace in the next chapters. **

**Let me know what you guys think. Cheers, Inky.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am a million times sorry I left this story all by it's lonesome but I promise to do better with uploads. This chapter is just an interlude to get us to the juicy bits. Nothing spicy yet. But soon. Thanks for sticking around. ~Ink**

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Hermione left the hospital wing with her face burning and her brain whirring a million thoughts more than usual. She made her way towards the Great Hall in the hopes that making it outside would help clear her fevered brain. She also hoped that Neville would go back to the common room and not come looking for her. She had a real issue focusing when he was around all of a sudden. She had to work out what she was feeling and suddenly that was the priority. Usually emotions were so black and white for her. Either you were feeling something or you weren't and she had no problem letting people know exactly how she felt about it. Hermione did not like not knowing or understanding. It was driving her mad.

She found her way to the lake and sat on the pebbly shore as far from the castle as she could get. She was angling for peace and quiet. But that was not to be found. Ginny Weasley had seen her best friend exit the castle in a hurry and had followed suit. Ginny had only wanted to catch up with Hermione before she began the big hibernation for exams. Everyone knew better than to pester Hermione once she set her study schedule. Ginny could tell from the way Hermione was moving that she was working something out. Hermione's shoulders were tensed, she was walking briskly, and Ginny was certain if she could see her face, Hermione's lips would be pursed and her brow furrowed. She had seen Hermione like this a million times as she sped off to the library in order to look something up. The fact that she was not heading to the library for answers intrigued Ginny.

No sooner had Hermione sat down did she feel someone standing behind her. She feared it was Neville. She was not ready to face him. But then she felt a distinctly smaller hand touch her shoulder. Hermione looked left and found that the hand was attached to a pale arm, that attached to a pale shoulder, that led to a pale, freckle covered neck and face. Just the face she was needing most to see.

"Oh Ginny. I am way out of my depth right now. I need advice."

Ginny promptly sat down. There were only two areas where Hermione would be out of her depth and only one where she would need advice.

"You should tell him how you feel, Hermione."

Hermione looked at Ginny questioningly.

"How… how could you possibly know what advice I was looking for?"

"Girl, please. You only need help with two things, boys and Quidditch and I am 100% certain that you are not trying out for the Quidditch team."

Hermione smiled softly and was amused by her friend. Hermione sighed and Ginny looked at her expectantly.

"It's Neville, Gin. I think I'm attracted to him. We've been having these tutoring sessions, right? And today I realized he wasn't an 11 year old boy with a crush anymore. He's a grown man."

Ginny laughed aloud, "It's about time you noticed! Only every girl in school who cares to look has noticed how much he's changed physically over the years. You've been too blind to see it. It amazes me actually that you only just noticed. Term is almost over girl. And if you want a piece of that gorgeous man then you better jump at it. Once we are out of school you're gonna miss your window because he's leaving."

"What do you mean he's leaving?"

"You haven't heard yet? He accepted a job in the Amazon Rain Forest Conservatory. There is apparently a load of magical plants there and he can't pass up the opportunity."

"What? Well then what's the point of starting something with him if he's just going to leave? Why hasn't he mentioned that to me? I've only spent every Saturday with him for the past four months."

Hermione was standing now. She had gone from confused and flustered to angry. How dare Neville even tempt her like this! She was furious and she was going to let him know it. He had no right to take off his robes and look so damned attractive and feel so strong and muscular. And now Hermione was back to being flustered.

Ginny looked up at a very irate Hermione. She giggled a little and said, "I'd say you better ask Neville those questions then huh?"

Hermione looked down at Ginny and then huffed off around the lake and back to the castle. Ginny grinned to herself and felt very smug. All was going according to plan.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the delay. Let's get on with it shall we?**

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Hermione flew into the castle and caused quite the stir among the ghosts that had settled in the grand foyer. She plowed right through them throwing a vague apology over her shoulder and shaking off the cold damp feeling she now had from walking though vapors in the shape of the dead. Her fury carried her through the castle and up to the infirmary. She threw open the doors and Madam Pomfrey looked up in alarm.

"Whatever is the matter dear," she asked with a voice full of concern.

Hermione was breathing hard and was slowly coming to her senses. The hospital wing was empty. As Hermione caught her breath she said quickly, "I forget to tell Neville something, I was hoping to find him here but he's obviously gone. I'll look for him elsewhere."

She whirled out of the doors and took off for the nearest staircase to take her to the Gryffindor common room. Three minutes later she was nearly out of breath again but her fury had cooled. She hastily said the password and stepped into the common room. She was intending to aim for her dorm when she saw him standing in the middle of the deserted room. She felt the anger start to bubble up inside of her all over again. She was angry at Neville for making her feel this way. Neville looked up in curiously when the portrait opened and then softened recognizing Hermione but it quickly changed to confusion when he saw her standing there looking quite vicious.

"Hi, Hermione," said Neville tentatively. Obviously this was the wrong thing to say as she glared at him more vigorously than before.

"Feeling better then," she said tersely. And then without waiting for a response she spat, "Just excellent," and made to storm off toward the stairs. Neville sidestepped and beat her to them blocking her way. He wasn't quite sure what to say. He wasn't quite sure why she was being short with him. Hermione was working diligently at squashing down her anger so she didn't say anything stupid.

"Hermione, why are you upset?"

"Neville, I'm going to need for you to move out of my way before I say something I will regret."

Neville had a nasty habit of standing up for himself at tactless moments and the last time he stood up to Hermione he ended up on the receiving end of a body bind curse. And yet here he was again, poking the beast as it were, risking being cursed again.

"No, Hermione. Tell me what's the matter with you. What's happened?"

Hermione threw up her hands, no longer able to control her anger or the other feelings she was having that were churning just under the anger that she was trying to avoid letting out.

"You! You are the problem here," she paused seeing the confused look on his face. It only made her angrier, "Do not look at me that way, Neville Longbottom. I know exactly what is going on and I don't appreciate it. Why didn't you tell me you were accepted to a Conservatory in the bloody Amazon? And then you have the gall to act attractive, as though anything could happen between us when you're leaving after graduation. You allowed that fission of attraction, and I felt it! What, did you think this would be a one off? A quickie realization of a fantasy to get you through the lonely nights after you've gone? Because let me assure you that I am not that kind of girl. How dare you, Neville."

Hermione made to storm past him but Neville was much taller and continued to block her path. Neville was no longer confused, he was ecstatic but he now had a very angry Hermione to deal with.

"Hermione Granger, stop shouting. You only have part of the story and you've got it the wrong way round."

"Oh don't you smile at me like it's all sunshine and rainbows in Neville's world because it surely is not. Now out of my way."

Hermione made to brush past him but Neville was a solid force blocking the way. She hadn't intimidated him into moving so she could make her dramatic exit. Instead he stood his ground and she walked into his chest. His very hard, muscular, defined, chest. Neville wrapped his arms around Hermione and pulled her even closer. Hermione was completely thrown off. As if the feel of his chest under her fingers wasn't enough his hand reaching under her chin to bring her face to look at his had her frozen in place. His arms were strong but she could have easily pushed him away. Instead she felt all of her anger evaporate as she watched his pupils dilate. She took in his musky, earthy scent. And she felt safe. Safer than she had felt in a very long time. Hermione was certain she stopped breathing. His hand moved from her chin to cup her cheek and tangle in her hair. His other hand ghosted over the small of her back. And slowly he leaned in, gently moving her face closer to his. He was excruciatingly gentle and the anticipation was killing Hermione. She adored it. Finally his lips met hers and Hermione saw stars. Neville had been anticipating this moment for years and it did not disappoint. The feel of her close to him, her body soft and pressing into his, her lips beautifully smooth and pressed tightly against his, was a moment he wished he could have frozen in time.

Alas, such moments cannot last forever, and they were in quite a public space. The portrait swung open with a bang and several chattering, giggling students spilled in. It was nearing dinner time. Hermione and Neville sprung apart. Both faces flushed. Hermione wasn't sure where to look. Suddenly her body felt out of her control and she was shaking. She looked at Neville and wildly pushed past him and retreated into the cool darkness of the empty girl's dormitory leaving Neville grinning widely at the bottom.

Ginny Weasley detached herself from the group she'd followed up to the dormitory and took in Neville's grin and flushed face and grinned devilishly. She had some girl talk to take care of with a one Hermione Granger, who she was certain was hiding in the girl's dormitory.

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**You know the drill. Tell me how you're feeling about this and help me out if something is horribly wrong, as I'm sure you will have no problems doing. Happy reading. ~ink**


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